"We have arrived."

The procession of horses passing through the road came to a halt in front of the guild.

Along with Ian, the mercenaries who had each been riding behind a patrol member dismounted clumsily with their help.

Second Lieutenant Mikhail of the patrol, who had personally carried and guided Ian’s group from the forest to this spot, spoke to Ian with a smile.

"Is there anything else you need?"

"No. Giving us a ride this far is more than enough."

Ian lightly took his hand and exchanged a handshake.

"Second Lieutenant Mikhail. I won’t forget to pass along word of how much you helped us today."

"Haha. Thank you."

Once Ian said the words he wanted to hear, Mikhail, wearing a satisfied grin, climbed back onto his horse and departed.

Louise the alchemist, the client of this mission, approached Ian’s side. Watching Mikhail’s retreating back, she couldn’t suppress her curiosity and asked Ian.

Having received help while being chased by a pack of monsters and even getting a ride on their horses, Louise had many things she was curious about regarding what had just happened.

"Just whose name was on that thing you showed him to make him act like that?"

"It’s likely because that man is in a desperate position."

Ian pointed toward the large building to the south, the Labyrinth City Hall.

It was the area furthest from the abyss, a core district where the city’s major administrative facilities and the mansions of the wealthy were concentrated.

"Usually, the closer you are to that place, the closer you are to the center of power. The further away you get, the further you are from authority."

"Ah.... Then that man is?"

Forget the city center; the patrol units stationed outside the city walls were out of the question.

Usually, these were positions foisted upon newly commissioned officers who entered without any connections.

"He probably failed to catch anyone’s eye at the military academy. For now, he’d be desperate to secure even a single connection."

A patrol unit circling outside the walls was a position where it was difficult to even see the faces of superiors.

In such a situation, to meet an acquaintance of a senior class year serving in the Defense Bureau—

Mikhail probably would have lent Ian money with a smile even if he had asked for a loan.

Understanding the situation roughly after hearing Ian’s explanation, Louise let out a sigh of relief.

"Phew. At least it’s a relief that he’s someone with connections. It means I won’t have to pay a fine."

To Louise, that was the most important thing right now.

She had said she would pay any amount if only they were saved... but everyone has a threshold they absolutely cannot cross.

She could negotiate with the guild, but negotiating with a fine was impossible.

According to the contract, even Ian’s fine would have been Louise’s responsibility, as it would count as a cost incurred during her rescue.

"I thought I was going bankrupt before I even started my business."

"You still have to pay the additional costs."

Ian pulled a coin from his pocket and showed it to her.

It was the coin of Captain Leona, the very thing that had saved Louise’s fortune by the skin of her teeth.

"I originally intended never to use this. But since I’ve incurred a debt because of it, I’ll have to go and pay my respects."

"Fine. That much is fair."

Having finished the mental calculation, Louise headed into the Mercenary Guild first with a look of utter exhaustion.

Ian followed her into the guild.

"Ugh...."

"I feel nauseous...."

The group members entered the guild behind Ian belatedly.

Most of them had never ridden a horse before, so their expressions were grim.

While it was certainly faster than walking the distance, it wasn’t an experience they particularly wanted to repeat.

Ian completed the simple rescue report at the guild and handed Louise over to them.

The finer details were for the Mercenary Guild and Louise to handle; Ian’s job ended with settling the costs and collecting the reward later.

Turning around after finishing his tasks, Ian spotted two groups of mercenaries gathered in the first-floor lobby.

One side was the Ian Mercenary Group.

And the other side... was the mercenary group composed of Tanya’s friends, who had been serving as Louise’s escort for this mission.

Since they were the primary reason he had taken this job in such a hurry, it was finally time to settle matters between these friends and Tanya.

Tanya hesitantly stepped forward, and the three friends also approached her.

Though they had reunited quite a while ago, they had been too busy running for their lives to have a proper conversation until now.

In the middle of the guild, Tanya and her friends stood facing each other awkwardly.

"You guys...."

"Tanya.... How are you here?"

"Where on earth have you all been?"

"We’re mercenaries, so.... But Tanya, why are you here?"

Anne and Tanya asked each other with faces that showed they couldn’t understand why the other was there.

Because they each had so many things they wanted to ask, they spent a long time just firing questions at each other without a single proper answer being exchanged.

Frustrated by the other party not answering first, they kept pushing the questions back and forth several times.

Finally, one of Tanya’s friends in the back, a mercenary named Karen, stepped in to stop the two.

"Wait. Let’s speak one at a time. Tanya, you answer first."

Tanya also had many questions, but she agreed that this would never end if they continued like this.

Tanya nodded, signaling for them to ask.

"Tanya, why are you here? Don’t tell me you became a mercenary?"

"I... contact with you all was cut off. I came to the Labyrinth to find you."

After staying silent for a moment, Tanya organized her thoughts and explained everything to her friends.

The story of how she came to the Labyrinth and searched for news of them.

The story of how she joined the Ian Mercenary Group and became a mercenary afterward.

And how she had taken the mission by chance after seeing their names on it.

This time, it was Tanya’s turn to ask.

"What about you guys?"

"...."

"...."

"...."

The three, who had been listening to Tanya’s story in silence, exchanged glances.

It was a look of obvious embarrassment that anyone could see.

Urged on by Tanya, Anne was eventually pushed forward to answer as their representative.

"Well.... To start with, we did intend to go to the Labyrinth."

This was the story of what happened immediately after they left the village, having bragged to Tanya about how they would earn money in the Labyrinth.

"But monsters were... scarier than we thought."

As everyone who confidently leaves their village discovers, fighting monsters requires far more courage than imagined.

Of course, they hadn’t faced monsters directly from the start.

Anne’s group was lucky enough to join a merchant caravan heading in the same direction, where they were able to watch the escorts fighting monsters from up close.

...Is this still too much for us?

The three who saw the monsters in person exchanged looks and quickly reached that conclusion.

"Besides, we heard that the Labyrinth has monster invasions too...."

They heard the frequency and level of monster appearances were much higher than in other cities.

There was a reason why Labyrinth mercenaries received higher rewards compared to elsewhere.

Having heard such things before they even started their mercenary work, the resolve of the three to go to the Labyrinth broke during their journey.

Ultimately, their journey stopped for a while in Orsia, a gateway on the road to the Labyrinth.

Compared to the Labyrinth, Orsia was a peaceful city with almost no dangerous monster sightings and only minor requests.

Mercenaries here are still mercenaries. Isn’t it basically the same thing?

The three agreed to start their mercenary work there for the time being.

"We planned to save money and gain experience in Orsia before moving on."

"But you wrote in your letters that you became mercenaries in the Labyrinth?"

"It would be embarrassing to say we couldn’t even make it to the Labyrinth after talking so big...."

Anne replied, her face flushing slightly.

"Why didn’t you contact me after that?"

"It felt wrong to keep lying about living in the Labyrinth.... I was going to write as soon as we actually got here!"

"Then why didn’t you receive my letters?"

"Letters? We didn’t get any. Where did you send them?"

"To the Labyrinth, obviously...."

The conversation cut off, and silence followed.

"...."

"...."

Tanya’s friends—Anne, Karen, and Seria—exchanged looks and gauged Tanya’s reaction.

A massive misunderstanding had snowballed into existence.

And the cause was clearly and overwhelmingly the fault of Anne’s group.

They left the village bragging about earning money in the Labyrinth, but they didn’t go because it seemed too dangerous.

Continuing to send letters lying about how they were doing well in the Labyrinth weighed on their consciences, so they had intended to gain a little experience and contact Tanya after moving to the real Labyrinth.

But they never expected that Tanya would come rushing to the Labyrinth so quickly.

After hearing the story and learning the full sequence of events, Tanya remained speechless for a long time.

Anne approached Tanya, who had her head bowed.

She was about to say, "Thank you for worrying about us," but—

Tanya, who was trembling with her head down and fists clenched, screamed.

"You...."

"You?"

"You idiots!"

Tanya’s fist flew toward Anne.

Right. Tanya had every right to be angry. I should just take the hit until her anger subsides....

There wasn’t even time for that thought to cross Anne’s mind.

Tanya’s fist arrived before Anne even realized it, and Anne was sent flying across the floor.

"Gah...!"

"Wa-wait. Tanya? Just calm down a bit...."

"Calm down! Kehek."

Not just Anne, but Tanya’s fists flew toward Karen and Seria standing beside her as well.

"Tanya’s furious, what do we do!"

"A-at this rate, it feels like a one-month silent treatment...."

"I told you we should have just told her the truth!"

Based on past experience, the three who sensed Tanya’s level of rage exchanged glances.

This was beyond that one time they had seen before when she didn’t speak to them for an entire month.

Sharing opinions urgently through eye contact and hand signals, the three tried to grab the rampaging Tanya to calm her down.

"First... let’s grab her and calm her down!"

"Right, Tanya. Let’s talk it... kek."

"Wait... sto, stop...."

The three, who tried to restrain her thinking she had lost her reason, realized something strange.

Even with the three of them clinging to her, they couldn’t stop Tanya at all.

Tanya... was strong.

Incredibly so.

"Yeah, Tanya! Go for it!"

"No, use your shoulders more in that case.... Right! Like that!"

The first floor of the guild, where numerous mercenaries passed through.

Mercenaries watching the sudden fight cheered and called out Tanya’s name.

What are they fighting about?

Mercenaries who arrived late and missed the beginning asked the nearby spectators, and soon they too joined Tanya’s side.

There wasn’t even time for the bets that usually follow such events to open; the situation was completely one-sided, with no need to put money down.

All of Tanya’s friends were instantly knocked down and rolled across the floor.

Tanya. Level 16.

The Anne Mercenary Group, consisting of three E-rank mercenaries, was annihilated by a bare-handed Tanya in just two minutes.